If Ireland's current crop are to assume the mantle of being the greatest side of all-time, then they have some way to surpass the glory-getters of 1948.

Driven on by the will of hooker and captain Karl Mullen, France had already been surmounted on a chilly New Year's Day in Paris.

Valentine's Day in west London, and there was no love lost between the near-neighbours. With Hugh De Lacey now Jack Kyle's half-back partner, Ireland outscored their hosts by three tries to one - but two successful conversions of Dickie Guest tries saw England go close.

Trivia: Ireland clinched their only Grand Slam so far in their next game - a 6-3 defeat of Wales in front a 30,000-strong Ravenhill crowd. Two Championships in the next three seasons also followed for Mullen's side.

If Twickenham '82 is always remember for Ginger McLoughlin's bullocking drive into the right corner for Ireland's second try, then the Championship belonged to fly-half Ollie Campbell.

He kicked a haul of 46 points - an even more impressive tally when you consider that Tom Kiernan's side won the Championship with just 66 points for.

Having watched his 20-year-old nephew Michael make his debut in the previous match - a 20-12 defeat of Wales, postponed for a week in Dublin for heavy snow - Kiernan knew Twickenham was vital to his side's chances.

Full-back Hugo MacNeill's try helped them go in at the break 10-3 in front, and although Mike Slemen replied for the home side late on, the Irish were not to be denied.

In between, prop McLoughlin had barged over with a little help from his friends, and Campbell's brilliantly-curled touchline conversion was essentially the difference between the sides.

Trivia: England were minus captain Bill Beaumont for the clash, due to a kick to the head he had received playing for Lanchasire a few days prior. It is also interesting to note that the son of England's 1982 try scorer Mike Slemen - David - is currently contracted to Connacht.

Ireland went into the 1994 Five Nations with a 43.70% win percentage in the past 84 years of the competition. A statistic which has been much improved since, but it is still interesting to note last season's win over England was still the men-in-green's first for ten years.

The images of a blonde-topped Simon Geoghegan haring in at the left corner for the only try of the '94 meeting, still burn bright.

Gerry Murphy's men - who finished the Championship just ahead of wooden spoonists Scotland - picked up a first Irish win in London for 12 years, on one piece of Geoghegan magic.

The tricky winger - then of London Irish - went on a brilliant, shimmying run outside Tony Underwood and past the last-gasp tackle of Jonathan Callard to leave the visitors with a 10-6 half-time buffer.

"Beating England at Twickenham in 1994 was much the greater achievement than our victory a year earlier at Lansdowne Road" said Geoghegan, at the time.

"In 1993, we dominated the English pack and thoroughly deserved a 17-3 win. In '94, we deserved to win again but not to the same extent. But its always an important victory if the Celtic sides topple England and doing so in consecutive seasons, was quite something. You can imagine the buzz we got from winning a game like that, it was phenomenal."

Trivia: Geoghegan - who earned his last of 37 caps against England in '96, at the age of 27 - scored his sixth Test try that day. His five-year career was curtailed by a toe injury.

Warren Gatland's Ireland robbed England of a potential Grand Slam for the third time in three years - following in the foot steps of Wales ('99) and Scotland ('00) - in the infamous 'foot-and-mouth' Championship.

Ireland - inspired by a fine try from the talismanic Keith Wood and roared on by the Lansdowne Road faithful, were behind only once and never looked back once Wood had powered over on the quarter-hour.

Clive Woodward's England picked up the Six Nations title, but it was Ireland's day as they bagged a crucial 18 turnovers to the visitors' six, and went through 111 tackles as against 69.

Trivia: Captain Wood dubbed it one of the 'ugliest crowds on record at an international' - what was he talking about? Well, Guinness managed to produce 10,000 Keith Wood face masks for 2001's tie. Dublin has never seen the like since!

An afternoon not likely to be forgotten for a long time - with Girvan Dempsey's 52nd-minute try setting Eddie O'Sullivan's side up for a Triple Crown tilt at Scotland later in the month.

It was the pitch-perfect kicking of fly-half Ronan O'Gara too, which delivered on the promise of this young Irish side. He clipped over four penalties and a conversion of Dempsey's effort - having missed a straight-forward penalty chance on 4 minutes.

The result also rubber-stamped Gordon D'Arcy's place in the side, as he outshone his more-vaunted midfielder partner Brian O'Driscoll - who nonetheless, got through a tireless amount of work in the loose.

The victory saw Woodward's England defeated for the first time in 23 home games - a record stretching back to 1999.

Trivia: Dempsey, Anthony Foley and record caps holder Malcolm O'Kelly will be lining out for the seventh time in a Test against England on Sunday. If Ulster fly-half David Humphreys gets on off the bench, it will be his ninth appearance.

The countdown is on to the Women's Sevens Dublin tournament in UCD on August 22-23. Anthony Eddy, IRFU Director of Rugby Sevens & Women's Rugby, previews what promises to be an exciting couple of days.

Tickets for the tournament start at 5 euro, with children free, and are available to buy here - http://www.ticketmaster.ie/Womens-Sevens-Series-tickets/artist/2134381?tm_link=artist_artistvenue_module.

Jenny Murphy talks about the progress made by the Ireland Women's Sevens team and their pool draw for the upcoming Women's Sevens Dublin tournament in UCD on August 22-23.

Tickets for the tournament start at 5 euro, with children free, and are available to buy here - http://www.ticketmaster.ie/Womens-Sevens-Series-tickets/artist/2134381?tm_link=artist_artistvenue_module.

Conor Murray and Tommy Bowe speak to Irish Rugby TV about their Rugby World Cup preparations and thank the thousands of supporters who came out to see the players at the open training session at the Sportsground.

Ireland captain Paul O'Connell gives his verdict on the team's new Rugby World Cup jersey and talks about his move to French club Toulon. Ireland's RWC 2015 range is available to pre-order now from http://shop.irishrugby.ie.

Anthony Eddy, IRFU Director of Rugby Sevens, talks about the target of a top three finish for both the Ireland Men and Women in Lisbon this weekend, as they continue on their quests for Olympic qualification.

Tom Daly, who recently captained the Ireland Men's Sevens team to the European Division C and B titles, is looking forward to playing in this weekend's Rugby Europe Olympic Repechage tournament in Lisbon, Portugal.

Ireland will host the 'Women's Sevens Dublin' at UCD on Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23. Tournament director Garrett Tubridy and Ireland stars Lucy Mulhall, Jenny Murphy and Louise Galvin speak about their excitement ahead of the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series qualifier.

Coach Allen Clarke and stand-in captain Billy Holland answer questions from the media following Emerging Ireland's 45-12 victory over Georgia in the final round of their successful Tbilisi Cup campaign.

Emerging Ireland coach Allen Clarke speaks about his side's five-try 33-7 win over Uruguay in the Tbilisi Cup and the first half injury to captain Rhys Ruddock. They wrap up the tournament against hosts Georgia on Sunday.

Speaking about the floods that occurred following the Tbilisi Cup's first round, Emerging Ireland team manager Joey Miles said: "A natural event like that, a tragedy like that puts the game of rugby into perspective. We express our regrets to the Georgian people and the Georgian Union for the terrible tragedy that they had."

David O'Reilly from the IRFU Charitable Trust's Corporate Patrons Committee speaks about the new scheme which provides businesses with unique networking opportunities and provides a platform for companies to effectively activate their CSR programmes. For further information, please contact Linda Black of the Charitable Trust - telephone (01) 6473866 or email: linda.black@irfu.ie / http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/34728.php.